A recipe for bacon-wrapped jalepeno poppers. An audio recording of your kids saying hello. The receipt from your trip to Costco. A comic strip that made you smile.
It’s a filing cabinet you actively reference. It’s an archive where you can safely store a copy of scanned documents. It’s an indispensable part of your digital planning system.
Evernote is great at archiving information. It indexes everything and even lets you search for text inside of images. There’s no cap on how much data your account can hold. That’s why hundreds of millions of people use Evernote for their digital brain.
Here are seven ways you can capture the stream of information coming at you and save it into Evernote.
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Print it. A quick way to capture information from practically anywhere is to “print” directly to Evernote. This gives you a PDF copy of the information that looks just like you had printed onto paper, page breaks and everything.
On macOS, you can create a PDF Service to print directly to Evernote. iOS can’t do this directly, but you can install Printopia on your Mac to get the same functionality. Printopia creates a virtual printer that your iPhone or iPad (or another Mac) can see. When you print to that printer, it creates a PDF from the print job and adds the document to Evernote. You can only use Printopia when you’re on the same WiFi network as your Mac; it won’t work when you’re out and about.
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Export it. Some apps (AirMail, Spark, Pocket, Reeder) will export directly to Evernote. The message or article will be added directly to the note, not embedded as a PDF like when you print. This works great for long-form text as well as snippets, but not for complex pages.
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Clip it. The Evernote Web Clipper, an extension available for most web browsers, makes it a breeze to capture text from web pages. You can capture the original page, of course, or a simplified article view that strips much of the formatting, ads, and and sidebar content, leaving you with just the content you want.
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Copy and paste it. Maybe you don’t want the entire article. Maybe you want just a snippet. You can always copy and paste the text you want. In a pinch, add a screenshot—Evernote will still index the text for future reference.
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Snap it. Evernote has a fantastic document camera. It borders on magical. Just take a picture of your daughter’s artwork or that bill you need to pay and Evernote will deskew it, clean it up, and save it in a note. Very handy for capturing receipts on the go. If you have your phone on you, you have a powerful scanner in your pocket.
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Say it. Did you know Evernote can record audio notes directly? Save a lecture. Record your aunt’s stories about the family. Immortalize your coworkers’ off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday to You”. This creates a note with an actual audio file you can listen to; if you want to dictate a text note, try Siri Dictation or Drafts.
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Type it. When all else fails, create a new note and start typing. Jot a quick note that captures the bare essentials to jog your memory later or craft an artisinal document. Simple is always an option.
However you capture the note, don’t forget to take a minute to keep Evernote organized. Is the note in the right notebook? Does it have the right tags? Does it have a good title that will let you recognize it when you see it later?
Wherever you find something you want to save, Evernote is there. Capture it and get on with your day. You’ll find it again when you need it.
Question: How do you capture your life in Evernote? Share your thoughts in the comments, on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.
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